Source: Orthodox Christianity [Mt. Athos, March 23, 2020] While the Holy Mountain has closed its port to pilgrims until the end of the month, the monastics continue to uphold the faithful through their prayers. In this vein, the Sacred Community, the governing body for the 20 ruling monasteries and their associated sketes and cells, has called on all the monasteries to serve All-Night Vigils to the Mother of God and to hold cross processions, entreating God’s mercy and grace as the world continues to suffer from the coronavirus epidemic, reports the Greek Orthodoxia News Agency. At its Thursday session, the Sacred Community, consisting…
Browsing: coronavirus
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Letter from Archbishop Elpidophoros shared by His Eminence, Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco New York, March 18, 2020 Your Eminence, It is with brotherly joy but also with much agony that I communicate with Your Eminence in these critical and unsettling times when all of humanity is in turmoil over this sudden pandemic of COVID-19. As Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, I am informing you of the just-issued decision of the Holy and Sacred Synod concerning the pastoral measures which must be taken for the protection of the flock of the Mother Church throughout…
Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA As Orthodox Christians, we are united in the sacraments and our teachings, but as human beings, we are also united in our solidarity and suffering. Therefore, during this period of intensive prayer and spiritual discipline of Great Lent, the pandemic that our communities are facing throughout our nation and throughout the world obliges us to slow down and reflect on the way that we glorify God as well as the way that we express compassion toward our brothers and sisters. As disciples of the Lord, Scripture and our faith inform us…